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RECORD
Well if you are just joining us for the first time this month, let me catch you up a little bit as you are coming in on part 4 of a 4 part series based on the hymn How Great Thou art
Taking one verse per week we have spent the previous 3 weeks considering first how the cosmos scream forth the power and majesty of God, Secondly how all of nature reminds us of God’s creativity and His care for it, including us, and then last week we looked at why the cross of Calvary is so crucial and important that the apostle Paul would call it the only thing worth knowing
And that of course brings us to the 4th and final verse of this hymn in its modern English form and if I was right in characterizing verse 3 as the most important, than verse 4 definitely has to be characterized as the most exciting
So let’s take a look at the lyrics shall we,
When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation,
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart.
Then shall I bow, in humble adoration,
And there proclaim, "My God, how great Thou art!"
Now I am not going to spend my time this morning trying to list for you our eschatological theology, There’s not enough time to even begin that and so I just want to focus on what the verse focuses on, the return of Christ
But I do feel it necessary to explain that the return of Christ happens in 2 phases
The first phase is when Christ comes on the clouds to call home His precious bride, the church that is without spot or wrinkle and take those who are a part of that back to Heaven with Him for the marriage supper of the lamb
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
This ushers in a period of time that is dubbed the tribulation period which culminates in the second phase of Christ’s return when He physically returns and places His feet once again on this planet to rule
has this to say about that,
Zechariah actually has a lot more to say about that second phase of the return of Christ but for the purpose of keeping things a little less confusing I want you to know that this morning when I talk about the return of Christ I am talking about His return to collect His bride, AKA the rapture
Secondly before I begin let me state that it is my intention to focus on those things that I know to be certain
There is a lot of prophetic language surrounding this topic which opens some things to debate of interpretation, I will not spend time on those things this morning but rather will save them for the fall when we continue our Wednesday night discussions about the last days
Today rather I will give you 3 things alluded to in this hymn that I believe are not debatable
The first of these 3 points is that the return of Christ is definite
Appropriately the 4th verse begins “WHEN Christ shall come” and not “IF Christ shall come” because the Bible is very clear that Jesus will come back
In Acts chapter 1 we have Luke’s record of Christ’s last few days on this planet after His resurrection
According to Luke the last thing Jesus did was to promise His disciples the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Luke then writes,
Acts 1:9-
And in Jesus Himself made this promise,
And in ,
-
“But,” you say, “It’s been over 2000 years surely if Christ was going to return it should’ve happened by now.”
But it might surprise you to know that people were making that very same argument just months and years after Christ ascended.
Peter wrote,
2 Peter 3:3-4
Peter goes on to give the follow response to these scoffers a few verses later,
2 Peter 3:34
2 Peter 3:
2 Peter 3:8-
Don’t get caught in the web of the lies from the enemy that says the return of Christ will not happen, or that it is the result of misinterpreted scriptures
I could spend all my time this morning just going over with you passage after passage that clearly demonstrates that the Return of Christ is a definite event that WILL take place
Which brings me to my second point, when will it take place?
Well let me be clear that Jesus Himself in stated that no person knows the day or the hour
No person, not even the angels in Heaven, so for all of those who have concocted, or been “given” formulas by which they can use the Bible to predict the exact moment that Christ will return we we can be certain that they are wrong
But we can know “the season” and here’s the point, from everything that the scriptures teach about the return of Christ we know that it is imminent
The dictionary defines “imminent” as “Likely to occur at any moment; impending”
1 Thessalonians 5:1-
Jesus offered us the following warning,
Luke 12:35-
Of the fact that Christ IS coming we can be sure, but we cannot afford to be caught in a false sense of lull just because it has not happened yet
His return needs nothing more to happen than the approval nod of the Father and we need to make sure that we are ready and waiting for it to happen
At to that that in the book of Revelation which John describes as,
Revelation1:1
In that book John records these words of Jesus
Revelation 16:15
Revelation 22:
“Yes I am coming soon!” Revelation 22:20B
So we know that the return of Christ is definite and we know that the return of Christ is imminent, the third point is that the return of Christ is permanent
There’s a phrase in verse 4 that I am not so sure we get the full impact of, let me read it again, “When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation, AND TAKE ME HOME”!!!!
Have you ever gone away for a while whether it be for recreation or for business, and at first it is fresh and exciting but it doesn’t take long for it to grow wearisome and for you to begin to desire to go home again
To go where things are familiar, where things are comfortable, where things are as they should be
Perhaps you’ve heard the old expression, “This world is not my home” and yet we’ve resided here for so long of a time it has begun to feel as if it is
May the lyrics of this hymn be a constant reminder to us that THIS IS NOT HOME!
But that Christ is indeed sometime soon coming to take us home to the place where we belong, where all is made right, where sin and its curse have been dealt with once and for all, where are friends and family that have gone before us are waiting eagerly to see us again
Listen to Paul’s words to the Philippian church,
Philippians 3:18-
I absolutely love verse 20 and I urge you to highlight it and bookmark and write it out and attach it to your fridge, to do whatever you have to do to see it as often as possible,
Philippians
Peter says something very similar in his 1st epistle when he said, “Friends, this world is not your home, so don’t make yourself cozy in it.
Don’t indulge your ego at the expense of your soul.
Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices.
Then they’ll be won over to God’s side and be there to join in the celebration when He arrives.”
Message
Well I hope that hearing this message excites you as much as it did me in preparing it and preaching it for the 4th verse of this great hymn is a constant reminder that the return of Christ for His bride is definite, it will happen, is imminent, it could happen at any moment and it is permanent as Christ takes us home to be with the Father forever
Oh I wish that I had time this morning to describe to you what that home will be like but let me just wrap up by quoting from another old chorus
“What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see.
When I look upon His face.
The one who saved me by His grace.
When He takes me by the hand and leads me to the promised land.
What a day, glorious day, that will be.”
Let’s pray
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